bikermutt07

I am no expert of any kind, but I will let you know this. These industrial class leather machines have hit their respective price points. Cobra and techsew probably have a comparable machine but the price will be about the same. The machine guys who advertise here are all experts and help all of the machine sew'ers out on a daily basis. Even if you have to have it shipped their service is top notch. Good luck.

Now that's some carving.....

Yeah, I have been known to make the final mistake of adding one more thing. Haha!

I just ran some saddle soap on a rag thru it and then waxed it. That's better than my idea.

I'm so unproductive. My spare time like that is spent here.

Chocolate. Sorry, it's early.

No worries.

They make bovine and horse leather. The horse comes in much smaller portions. Either a single or double front, strips, or shell. The shell is the stuff they make really expensive shoes out of. I think they say it takes several months to produce. It is a small oval about 2.5 as.ft. The only price i have found for those is from an Italian tannery and the run almost 200.00 a piece. So, I haven't tried any. I'm just moving into the better than Tandy leather world myself. Only in the last 6 or 8 months have I been seeing what better leather can do. But my pace moves in slug years. I work a physical job and have a young child, so not a lot of time at the bench. Anywho cheers.

The shell cordovan is...... The horse fronts and horse strips can be had pretty reasonable. Maverick and Springfield Leather both sell it. Maverick has the strips for like 6 bucks a foot and they are only 2-3 feet each (about 5-9 inches wide x 4 foot). Making a wallet right now.

Lol, I think I would retire that thing.

......(am outside of Syracuse, NY)....

Try some horween, it's like crack.

Good job.

Bruce Johnson may have some parts. Maybe.

Well, they are over sized now....Ha! It was a little brutal.

Today I started on a new wallet with the burgundy horse strip. Got a nice straight edge on it and ran my Tandy original strap cutter. I cut my pattern length and two card pocket pieces. I went to split the pieces down to about 3.5 ounces on my weaver 8 inch skiver splitter. Even though it was tough the main body went thru ok. But the 2 card pockets stretched all kinds on crazy. So, my question is, will these pieces return to their cut dimensions after a day or so? I haven't had much stretching with veg tan pulling thru it.

On the edges the dye soaks in pretty quick. I use a small paint brush for my edges.

Dang, sorry for that.

We live and we learn. I still haven't tried to really sell much of anything yet. Bench time is scarce and learning to do it well takes time.

https://www.amazon.com/Leathercraft-Tools-Al-Stohlman/dp/1892214903 Here you go.

The Leather tools how to sharpen them how to use them was only like 16 bucks.

That's cool, WalkinBear. I am only in my 40's and have always worked construction. My hands can't handle tooling, so, I just don't do it. You can still make nice projects and not tool. This is my hobby and I want it to be fun. Pain is not fun. Pain is work. So, if it hurts, I'm not doing it. That doesn't mean we can't do a few nice accents with some stamping tools though. Remeber, have fun.

Welcome to a great forum. There is tons to learn and plenty of experts to give the answers you need. I posted this following bit in a few intro threads in the last few days. Enjoy. If I can offer some advice I got here.... Start small and repeat, repeat, repeat. Making the same small items over and over will help you develop all the different disciplines. Keeping it small gives you more time at the bench with said amount of leather. Example: Make 25 bracelets from 1 shoulder. That gives you a month or so of hobby time with 50.00 worth of leather. In those 25 Bracelets you can learn to dye, edge bevel, sand, burnish, build you hardware knowledge, finish, stamp and tool, laminating, stitching and more. Plus if you screw 1 up, you're only out about .50 worth of leather. This can be done with key fobs, watch bands, bracelets, and small card wallets. It will really build some value into that 1 single shoulder. The advice I received has been elaborated upon. I was told build one thing over and over until you are really good at it. Then move on. So good luck and enjoy.

Looks great.

Ok I'll bite. From your description I have seen coin purses with the metal press spring closures (made that term up). As far as it expanding I'm thinking of something that has gussets on both ends and the bottom. The sides and bottom would then expand with the more coins you add. I picture a profile like a flat topped bowtie. When it is empty it would lay flat-ish. That's the best I got, sorry.